Page 37 of Evening Shadows

“Why do you have us here?”

His gaze flicked from her to Ken. With a raised eyebrow, he asked, “Ken Patrick?”

Refusing to confirm that information, she narrowed her eyes. “Why do you have us here?” she asked again.

Alejandro took a few steps into the room and sat in a burgundy leather armchair. Steeping his fingers together and bouncing his thumbs off each other grated on her nerves. “You must be Bev’s friend, Samantha Milton.”

So he did know her name.Stay on target, Sam. Don’t let him affect you.“Why do you have us here?” she asked again, ignoring his reference to Bev.

“I want the boy back.”

Since they hadn’t had much information on Alejandro, she hadn’t known what to expect. What she hadn’t expected was the calm, cool man. “That’s not happening.” No sense beating around the bush there.

“Is that your final answer?”

Panic seized her, choking her response. What type of final did he mean? She wouldn’t give up Cody. All she could do if they chose to kill them was stand between Ken and a bullet. She didn’t wish to die, nor did she wish the man she cared about to die either.

Taking a slow, deep breath, she calmed herself as much as possible. Her heart, attempting to escape from her chest, had no such qualms. She could face possible death. “Yes.”

His dark eyes searched hers, and he must’ve seen her steely resolve in her protection of Cody. Looking at the man holding her arm, he nodded down the hallway. “Take them away.”

That opened the door to a multitude of options she didn’t like. Her escort pulled her down a light-colored hallway. She kept craning her neck around to ensure Ken followed. He’d pretended for so long, she feared he’d passed out again.

Once she ensured Ken accompanied her, she focused on their path, counting doorways and looking for—and finding—surveillance cameras. If he needed cameras in his own home, he definitely couldn’t be up to any good. What had Devon said? They suspected him of being an arms dealer or participating in illegal arms trading. On a positive note, she might find arms to help any investigation. On a negative note, their captors might have plenty of arms in their hands.

Her escort gripped her arm and stopped her forward movement. “Here.”

Here appeared to be a small room with an iron cell door. He swung it open and shoved her through the portal. Stumbling, she saw the cot on one side of the room and a large bucket on the other. Disgust roiled in her, turning her stomach over and over. Who the hell kept a dungeon in their home? One up to no good. Had they held Cody in here? She hoped not. That doubled her determination to keep the boy away from this monster.

Continuing to survey the room, she had to remind herself that Alejandro may have treated Cody very well. The agents had reported pulling him from the breakfast table, so he, at least, didn’t take meals in here. It’d been a shame they couldn’t take time to locate Alejandro. If they’d had a larger team and more time to prep…. With a professional effort, she swept Cody from her mind and focused on her and her boss and their survival.

More or less tossed into the room, Ken kept up his façade of unconsciousness. As they slammed and locked the door, she dropped to her knees beside him, and said the first thing that popped into her head. “Did you really say you loved me?”

15

Ken groaned and rolled onto his back. “Yeah,” he agreed. “Now take a look at my leg.” He dropped his head back and closed his eyes. Although he tried to hide it, his pain radiated through her and she wished she could take it away.

If only she’d gotten to him sooner, protected his six sooner, he wouldn’t have been shot. She should’ve realized that he hadn’t been right with her after he’d ordered her to run. Forgetting he’d been injured had been unacceptable of her as a teammate.

But what of any other relationship?He’d told her he loved her. If he truly did, why now? Because they’d possibly been about to die? She didn’t know how to handle the emotions his words evoked. They’d been dancing around the growing changes in their relationship where their feelings went beyond what they’d ever admitted. Was she ready to make that jump though?

His groan refocused the emotions that had her thoughts in a jumble. Helping him had to be her priority, but she sighed with near defeat. She had nothing to treat his wound, and based on how they’d been treated by their captors, she didn’t believe a doctor would arrive anytime soon. No one appeared to be guarding the cell for her to request supplies.

Did Alejandro want Cody back so badly that he’d allow Ken to suffer without treatment? Maybe they could fill in the holes about the man that Devon couldn’t dig up. Then she’d have to find a way to use it for their release.

Determined, she turned her attention to Ken’s injury. A frown wove its way on her face. She couldn’t see his injury, and without her knife, the fabric wouldn’t give enough for her to rip it and make the hole larger. When they’d purchased the BDU pants, it had been for durability, which didn’t involve being able to rip them so easily.

“The shot’s too high on your thigh to pull up your pants leg to see it.” She didn’t say because of the finely toned, muscular thighs that made her kind of drool, the lower pants leg wouldn’t have pulled up over them. She’d wanted to get in his pants but not like this.Enough. Now’s not the time to think of those things. Fix him so you can escape. Although she feared her womanly reaction to his next action, she directed him to do the only thing she could imagine would help. “You’re going to have to drop ’em.”

A pain-filled chuckle rumbled up from him. “If I had a dollar every time a woman said that to me….”

Damn if her emotions didn’t resurface when she wanted to keep her mind on nothing but the business at hand. Yet she smiled at his humor but secretly wanted to give the women their dollars back—so to speak. Jealously sprang up inside her. She hadn’t felt it since Lance, but if she had to admit the truth—and what better time than now—she’d been jealous of the women Ken had dated when they’d all hung out together. In fact—

Stop this!After scolding herself some more she realized so much had changed since then. She’d changed to include going into a dark place with what Bev had told her to having the man she’d dreamed about tell her he loved her. And he’d said something about having trouble reconciling his two challenges with her. Yet things about both situations scared her. Knowing the timing couldn’t be worse, she shoved everything but their survival to the back of her mind, adding a slam of a door to emphasize her will so she could be the warrior she’d been trained to be and take charge until Ken’s condition changed for the better.

Investigating the two items in the room, and searching the floor, the walls, and the door, her heart sinking as she found nothing that could be formed into something sharp to tear his pants or protect them.

She drew her brows in concentration and frowned thinking she must be missing something. Always, anything could be adapted to be of use. Captors tended to overlook the most mundane things, but either these men hadn’t been that stupid, or they had been that lucky.

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